Survey Says Most Workers Procrastinate

NEW YORK — The average employee in the United States wastes nine weeks a year procrastinating instead of working -- and men are worse than women, a survey released Friday reported.

Reasons for postponing work range from an inability to make decisions to boredom to low self-esteem, the survey said.

The survey, commissioned by Accountemps, a Manhattan employment agency, was based on interviews with vice presidents and personnel directors of 100 companies.

The survey said the average employee postpones work 18 percent of the time, totaling nine 35-hour weeks each year.

While 42 percent of the companies surveyed said there was no difference, 27 percent believe that men are the greatest procrastinators and only 5 percent gave that distinction to women, Marc Silbert, the employment agency`s vice president, said.

The major reasons people put off work is because of the unwillingness or inability to make decisions, closely followed by a failure to understand responsibilities and a lack of communication between supervisor and worker.